Post navigation

Chefs On The Battlefield, Generals In The Kitchen

[SCENE: Mitch BERG is at his county elections office getting an early primary voting packet. He looks around and notices Avery LIBRELLE walking in. He briefly considers fleeing out the fire exit, but just tries to make himself look small and inconspicuous. It doesn’t work.]

LIBRELLE: Merg! Donald Trump is a traitor!

BERG: No he’s not. We’re not at war with Russia.

LIBRELLE: Yes we are!

BERG: How do you figure? Be specific.

LIBRELLE: They’ve been attacking our society and election system.

BERG: They’ve been attacking our society and election system since the 1930’s – ours and every one in Western Europe, with a brief break during the early nineties, maybe.

LIBRELLE: Espionage is a form of war.

BERG: Then we’re “at war” with every nation on earth, including all of our putative allies.

LIBRELLE: Merg! Merg! Trump’s performance in Helsinki was a threat to national security!

BERG: His press conference was a fairly awkward display of ego over common sense. But since you brought up national security, if you favor open borders…

Absolutely, Emery. That’s why it was such a big deal when President Obama and Hilliary Clinton did exactly that regarding Benghazi. Oddly, I don’t remember much outcry over it when it happened from the left, though.

The President of the United States isn’t sure whether he believes the US government or the Russian government. Just let that sink in.
Given Strzok’s testimony I would put them on par. Clearly the intelligence apparatus of the US places a low priority on telling the truth to the president.
Turn your hysteria dial down from 11.

Trump’s script is straight out of the novel “1984”. Here’s the quote: ‘The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.
It was their final, most essential command.’ When Trump supporters ask, “why do you call us stupid and gullible?”, true Americans can just use that Orwellian quote.

Tell me emery how exactly Trump threw us under the bus?
Do you mean he insulted our vaunted intelligence community who totally missed the USSR collapse, or the 1993 WTC Bombing, or 9/11. Who in 2003 gave us their gold plated assurances of nuclear WMD in Iraq. They’re batting 0 for 4, maybe its time those ivy league metrosexuals were held accountable for their abysmally dismal record of failures.
If Trump made them and the likes of John McCain wet their pants good for him.

Honestly, as much as it pains me to admit it, I believe Putin over the Deep State apparatchiks in our own intelligence units. I don’t think Russia did hack the DNC (although they wish they could). I think it was an inside job, the files were downloaded by somebody with physical access like maybe Seth Rich who then was conveniently gunned down in a “robbery gone bad.”

The intelligence agencies who assert Russia hacked the DNC computer have NOT SEEN THE COMPUTER. They’re relying on a report prepared by Crowd Strike, a software firm paid by the DNC, which claims the methods used were similar to methods Russians used. You know, that sounds a lot like the fake dossier that got Mueller’s investigation rolling. It’s the same MO. Hire somebody to produce a report then peddle it to your buddies in the Deep State who will report it as fact so Nancy Pelosi can shriek about it to undermine the legitimacy of the election.

When Donald Trump willfully destroys elements of global peace and trade, he is expressing the sentiments of a public which does not feel it is sharing in the benefits of globalism. The public are willing to be economically and geopolitically self-destructive in order to make a national political point to the elites: The elites had better find a way to share, or we’re all going down.

Emery, would it kill you to acknowledge that, per Bodine’s comment and mine, that (a) Presidents giving the shaft to the intelligence community is nothing new and (b) that the CIA missing big facts is also nothing new?

Honestly, you accuse others of shouting “squirrel”, but when someone else provides clear evidence that the current furor is just people yelling about what their guy was doing for 8 years, it’s change the topic time for you. Be a man, acknowledge the facts.

Isn’t it frightening how confident Trump is now sounding in voicing his opinions? It also seems clear that even his aides are largely in the dark and struggle to take in what he is saying.

Leaving aside his personal character, the problem with his being so called Leader of the Free World is that he is clueless about the extent of his ignorance and of the effects of his words and actions on people and events. He doesn’t realize how much he is being played by unscrupulous enemies and rivals of the West, who are encouraging him in behaving in such a harmful manner to America’s true interests and that of her true allies.

As well as his general clown-like playing to the crowd, the principal source for his views seem to be taken largely from the dark online conspiracy sites that so many of his supporters also trust as their primary source.
Bizarrely he and his supporters take strength from each others advocacy of these ‘ideas’ and the screamed protests from all those who are not part of their brotherhood, which they take as proof of their conspiracy memes. Any journalistic challenge is labelled fake news.

Imagine all the good things they could actually be doing for the people they were elected to serve

Trump dissed the intelligence branches of the US. But it’s hardly treason given the unsubstantiated allegations and animosity they’ve shown him, I’ll hardly blame Trump if he disses them.

Now if Obama, whom the intelligence community worshiped and protected, had dissed them, I’d be wondering what’s going on and been concerned.

Emery, you want me to diss Trump? Show me anything even remotely substantial and substantiated that deserves the straight out disrespect Brennan, Strzok, et. al. have shown the man that the people have chosen to be president. I’ve made it clear I don’t like Trump as a person, but me not liking him as a person doesn’t mean that I don’t support his policies, nor expect the supposedly unpolitical bureaucracy to do his bidding (the opposite was the case with Obama — I respected his personality, but I detested his policies).

If you ever want a good reason to repeal or massively reduce Civil Service protections, the way this permanent bureaucracy has treated Trump is a great example of why a president should be able to hire his own administration. Strzok and Page should been gone the instant those text messages were found, not still rattling around Washington.

First, there is probably a widely held belief in both the House and the Senate that the November election should be allowed “to speak” before constraining action on Trump is undertaken. The exception might be constraining the president’s trade authority procedurally, which would be a positive talking point for many Republican incumbents in the upcoming elections. The Republicans also have immediate pressing work to get Kavanaugh confirmed, which is Goal 1 of the donor class if not the base.

That there might be 14 Republican senators in favor of impeachment is at first glance startling but probably true. Throw in a couple more willing to “just turn the page” and you get to 67 senators, the magic number. Undoubtedly some such calculation in the White House keeps Trump from firing Mueller. So the real kompromat is probably held by Mueller, not Putin.

Would a lame duck Congress want to clear the decks and send the president into retirement before Christmas?

Mueller probably has the evidence that is the key to such an eventuality.

Remember, the real dynamic in an impeachment is the whip’s vote tally before any evidence is ever presented in the Senate chamber. The letter of resignation will be received before the chief justice’s opening gavel. With it might be a side agreement with federal prosecutors giving Trump and his family immunity from prosecution.

You are insane, Emery. A crazy person. You are not thinking rationally.
“First, there is probably a widely held belief in both the House and the Senate that the November election should be allowed “to speak” before constraining action on Trump is undertaken.”
There is no indication, zero, meaning none at all, that this is a true statement, and you do not so much as attempt to show that it is true. Then you build fantasy scenarios based on the notion that it is true.
That is crazy.
Just as crazy as the people who thought that if a copy of a Kenyan birth certificate with the name “Barack Obama” was found, Obama would led out of the White House by federal marshalls and spend the rest of his days in Leavanworth.
You are that insane.
And Trump did it just by being Trump! Outstanding job by DJT! All predictable based on his Feb. 16, 2017 press conference.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt

Better yet, Emery, maybe say that a few times when you shave and see if that guy you’re looking at listens to you. The rest of us can only hope it works.

And again, let’s be blunt here; the vaunted “intelligence community” is the same cast of characters that not only bought Hilliary’s BS report on Trump, but also refuses to back off now that it’s clear it was BS, and they dropped the ball completely on vetting it.

Lots of other failures we can think of, a lot of them eminently preventable if Foggy Bottom and the DOJ had been interested in something else besides videos offensive to Muslims and the like. Maybe if Clinton and Obama hadn’t hired a guy idiot enough to vote for Gus Hall for that purpose, it would have helped.

Dear God! Emery has gone around the bend! Somebody’s dropped LSD into his kombucha.

First, there is probably a widely held belief in both the House and the Senate that the November election should be allowed “to speak” before constraining action on Trump is undertaken. The exception might be constraining the president’s trade authority procedurally, which would be a positive talking point for many Republican incumbents in the upcoming elections

Any proof of that other than the fever swamp of the Left? And nice use of hedges that I’ve bolded. Kind of indicates the level of trust even you put in that statement; you’re spinning a tale from whole cloth here.

That there might be 14 Republican senators in favor of impeachment is at first glance startling but probably true. Throw in a couple more willing to “just turn the page” and you get to 67 senators, the magic number.

Once again, the qualifiers show how much you’re dreaming. All sorts of imagined conversions that somehow might be true, but for which there is absolutely no evidence other than the fevered dreams of liberals.

Trump has some senators who don’t like him much, but 14 willing to convict? On what basis? There’s no evidence, and without evidence they know their fate. Again, even IFthe NSA had any real dirt on Trump, it will NOT release anything or make any direct accusation simply because doing so would destroy the NSA and expose its methods.

Mueller will be stuck trying to get Trump on procedural grounds (you saw his attempt with an open ended interview (the “lying to federal officials” gambit) and his “obstruction of justice” gambit). If Trump’s lawyers have half a brain they’ll tell Mueller what he can do with his requests. At this point firing Mueller won’t do Trump any favors (which is why he’s avoiding it), but he’s destroyed the reputation of Mueller enough that Mueller isn’t a mortal threat now.

Would a lame duck Congress want to clear the decks and send the president into retirement before Christmas?

Mueller probably has the evidence that is the key to such an eventuality.

Again, the fevered dreams without any evidence, based on mere hope, mere mights, and in fact against all the evidence so far. Rosenstein and company say Trump isn’t the subject of the investigation.

You want to see what the strength of Mueller’s investigation is? Look at how he folded as soon as his indictments were challenged. He asked a court to delay the trial, he asked to seal the evidence (and only got a temporary ban on the lawyers sharing the evidence at this stage, with the judge indicating that won’t last if this really goes to trial), and then he asked other attorneys to take over. Not hardly the actions of someone with solid, incontrovertible evidence.

Remember, the real dynamic in an impeachment is the whip’s vote tally before any evidence is ever presented in the Senate chamber. The letter of resignation will be received before the chief justice’s opening gavel. With it might be a side agreement with federal prosecutors giving Trump and his family immunity from prosecution.

Nice to see you’re still dreaming. Again, on what charges? There was more evidence that Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii than has been presented tying Trump to Russia.

Let’s never rule out the rule of law.

Impeachment and trial by the senate is NOT a legal proceeding, it’s a POLITICAL action. As such, it’s a very different animal. And at this point, all your hopes of impeachment are politically driven, not factually driven.

We’ve seen nothing warranting impeachment yet. But we have heard from even before the election that impeachment is warranted on grounds that boils down to the fact that Trump isn’t a Democrat.

Again, Dear God, Emery, you’re completely around the bend. You’re weaving fanciful scenarios without the least evidence or plausibility. You’re worse than 9/11 Truthers who think you can’t melt steel in a fire! At least they had some real data to back out their theory, even if they didn’t know enough science to apply their melting-point idea correctly. You, on the other hand, are bloviating with absolutely NO evidence, only hopes and dreams.

No POTUS has been as big of a wimp as your Black Messiah. And let’s not even get into his non constitutional actions.

When he was asked by the media what he told Putin about their supposed election meddling, he replied, “I told him to cut it out”. And his drooling sycophants thought he was the greatest statesman in history. The majority of the media in this country would have made Goebbels and Stalin proud.

“There have been times where they slip back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality. And what I consistently say to them, and what I say to President Putin, is that’s the past and we’ve got to think about the future, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate more effectively than we do.” – Barack Obama, August 6, 2013.

Emery wanted Trump to storm up to Putin, shouting, then chase him around the room with a folding chair. That’d show him who’s boss!

Emery is confusing a meeting with a nuclear superpower with World Championship Wrestling. One is just for show, the other is . . . okay, it’s also just for show, but the consequences are a lot more significant.

Instead of thinking this meeting was a showdown between Virtue and Evil, consider it from a Real Estate Developer’s point of view (and always remember, Trump is a real estate developer). This summit was more like the first meeting with the Planning Commissioner that you need to work with to get your project approved. You don’t come in screaming with a folding chair. You come in glad-handing and back-slapping and good-old-boying. The chair comes later, when we’re negotiating over show much the public will pay for the project.

Joe: World Championship Wrestling, or possibly an occasional basketball game between Indiana and Purdue, no?

Since Emery seems to need some reminders here, I seem to remember someone telling ‘ol Vladimir that he’d have more freedom to work with him once he got re-elected. You want collusion with Russia? There ya go, buddy. Or we can remember all that money Hilliary’s foundation took from Russian sources after she signed off giving control of 20% of our uranium supply to the Russians. Or….

Joe,
In Emery’s world big problems are easily solved with a “Mean Girl” tantrum that ends with “I Hate you” as she flounces off to her pink bedroom. The rest of the time she believes snarky petulance is enough to put people in their place. Read back through this thread and tell me Emery doesn’t have a familiar affect

The Dems say they want to interrogate under oath Trump’s translator for his his meeting with Putin.
This is how stoopid they are. They would be appalled at the thought of a GOP congress doing the same thing to a D president — but it can done, so do it.
The Republicans should subpoena Obama’s translators for all of his one-on-one meetings with foreign heads of state.
Fight fire with fire, says me.
I didn’t vote for Trump, but I like his presidency so far (that could change at any time).
But for now I consider all of the insanity, all of the rage expressed by Democrats against Trump to be an assault on me. If they knew how I felt about public policy issues, and if what I thought mattered, I would get the same childish, hateful poison directed at me. So fuck them.

Glen Greenwald’s The Intercept has published this interesting column on what the Mueller indictments tell us about American and Russian intelligence. This bit popped out at me: “What isn’t mentioned in the indictment is that, on one occasion, someone reportedly logged into the @Guccifer_2 Twitter account without connecting to a VPN service first, revealing their real IP address. ‘Working off the IP address,’ the Daily Beast stated in March, ‘U.S. investigators identified Guccifer 2.0 as a particular GRU officer working out of the agency’s headquarters on Grizodubovoy Street in Moscow.'”
It seems unlikely to me that this was a “mistake.” Also the US investigators couldn’t do anything I could do, if I had access to the logs of the hacked server. Mueller’s people aren’t “super hackers.”

I’m mostly just amused at Trump’s followers going through various contortions as Trump’s excuses keep changing.

Defending a pathological liar requires a certain level of endurance, the kind of endurance it takes to keep slamming your face into a closed door until you knock yourself out … because you are too foolish to open it.

Yes, the intellectuals are applauding wildly for your deft performance, Donald:
“It was when he crudely bowed and scraped to Putin that I knew–this man, he is another Socrates! An Einstein!” ~ Modern Autocrat

“It was when he called Putin ‘strong and powerful’ without a word of mention to the election hacking that attacks the foundations of American and Western democracy. An intellectual tour-de-force, on a par with the great Sycophancy Sonnets of Benedict Arnold!” ~ The Destructive Malignantly Narcissistic Times

“It was when he said “witch hunt” for the thousandth time. That’s when I knew that he should be enshrined in the great “Rubber-Glue” section of La Scala! ~ Pathetic Self-Deception Daily

“I laughed. I cried. No, mostly:
I laughed.

And I can’t stop laughing. We all can’t.” ~ Childlike Oppositional- Defiant President Weekly